The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Modern Mourning, and the Rei... - 9781442643390

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Modern Mourning, and the Reinvention of the Mystical BodyAuthor(s): Laura Wittman\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: University of Toronto Press, Canada\nImprint: University of Toronto Press\nISBN-13: 9781442643390, 978-1442643390\nSynopsis\nAt the end of the First World War, countries across Europe participated in an unprecedented ritual in which a single, anonymous body was buried to symbolize the overwhelming trauma of the battlefields. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier explores the creation and reception of this symbolic national burial as an emblem for modern mourning.\n Bringing together literature, newspaper accounts, wartime correspondence, and popular culture, The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier examines how the Unknown Soldier was imagined in diverse national contexts and used by radically opposed political parties. Laura Wittman argues that this monument established a connection between the wounded body vulnerable to the war machine and a modern ident.